A Date With Destiny
by fairfarren
Summary: This story tells about Holly Short's ill-fated first date with Trouble Kelp. H/T at first, but implied A/H at the end. Warning: kinda mushy at parts, but I really do hope you'll enjoy it. Please tell me what you guys think!


_This is ridiculous..._

Holly frowned at her reflection in the mirror. It had been so long since she had gone anywhere outside of work- Especially on a date- and frankly, she was terrified.

What made it even scarier for her, was that her date was with Trouble Kelp, whom she respected as a comerade, but had never spent time with outside of work before. What if she absolutely embarrased herself in front of him tonight?

She shook her head, trying to drive out her thoughts, and stepped away from the mirror; overall, she had never felt so unlike herself in her life. She had tried her hardest to do something with her choppy, short hair, without success, so had settled with simply running a brush through it. Since she didn't get out much, she was wearing an ancient necklace, and the only decent dress she owned in her entire wardrobe. It was kind of faded and musty from sitting in her closet, but looking at herself, Holly was still rather pleased. The dress was a pale green, and really accented her uniquely mismatched blue and hazel eyes. For a moment, she couldn't help but think of the only other person in the world who possesed these exact same eyes...

_No!_ , she screamed in her head. The only reason she had agreed to this date in the first place, was so that she could forget thoughts like that. She just needed to pull herself together long enough for this one night, after all.

All of a sudden, Holly heard a knocking at her door that snapped her our of her revereie. She rushed over to open it, and there stood Trouble in the flesh, wearing a freshly cleaned suit and a very shy smile. He may be pretty gung-ho on the job, but he sure didn't look like that here.

"Hi Cap...I mean, Holly", he said finally, after a brief awkward pause. At this, Holly couldn't help but smile back. "Hi yourself, Trouble", she replied, only looking at his face for a moment before turning her eyes to the floor.

_Oh, Gods_, she thought._ Is this how this whole date is going to go?_

"I hope you don't mind my saying this, but you look beautiful tonight", Trouble said, casually handing her a small box of chocolates.

"Thank you. You look very nice yourself", Holly replied truthfully, taking the box. "So, can I ask where we are going?"

"Oh, you'll see..." was Trouble's cryptic answer. In classic gentleman style, he offered Holly his arm, and led her to his waiting car. She stepped in carefully, her heart pounding in her chest. She never really was a fan of surprises, after all.

Trouble went around and got in to the driver's seat. "Don't worry about it, Holly...You'll like this place, trust me." He said with another smile, clearly seeing how scared Holly was.

Without a word, they made their way slowly through the busy city streets of haven, passing up all of the familiar neighborhoods she was used to, and, to Holly's surprise, heading straight for the ritziest part of the city. Skyscrapers passed by them on both sides, and humble family homes made way for mansions. Soon, Trouble finally made a stop outside the kind of restaurant that Holly never thought she would ever go to.

"Here's where we stop", Trouble said, getting out. Holly followed suit, but as she stepped out of the car, she still couldn't believe her eyes. The building itself was gorgeous, clearly new, with a huge, intricate sign outside that announced the restaurant as the _Haven Heights Cafe_ As they stepped inside, the inside was every bit as beautiful, with diamond chandeliers hanging down from the rock veiling and dozens of carefully set tables all around. Holly almost wanted to walk away right then, since she felt so out of place, until a sharply dressed host came to greet them.

"Good evening. May I help you?", he asked. "Yes", Trouble replied. "Kelp, reservation for 2, please". The Host checked his list quickly, and nodded. "Very good, sir", he said, and lead them both to a table near the back of the restaurant.

They sat down, and watched the host walk away. "Pretty nice, huh?", Trouble said. "This is amazing, Trouble!", Holly answered with a smile, still taking everything in, and trying not to think of her date. "How did you afford it?" "I have my ways..." he said. This instantly made Holly's smile fade. Certainly, he couldn't be getting this kind of money off of an LEP salary? Something was definitely wrong here...

Soon, a waitress came over to them, and they both ordered salads, which Holly found was the cheapest thing on the entire menu, and made her feel a little better about things. She tried to keep polite chitchat going with Trouble while they waited, but the talk mostly ended up being about work, which they both quickly tired of, and since neither one of them was very eager to talk about their personal lives yet, they ate their dinner, once in arrived, in near silence. Once they were done, Trouble paid for the bill, and led Holy back to the car, not looking quite as happy as he had when he had first picked her up.

"Trouble…what's wrong?" Holly asked finally when she got in to the car, not being able to take it anymore."Nothing", was his only response, but his frown was another story. "Please tell me?", Holly asked again, pressing, but he simply started the engine and started driving, not talking until they had made their way out of the wealthy neighborhood.

"All right Holly, I'll confess", Trouble finally answered with a sigh. "It's you. YOU are my problem...".

"Wait a second. Why am _I _your problem?"" Holly asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise."What did I do?"

"Nothing at all, really", he answered, tightening his grip on the wheel. "But that's what's worrying me. To be honest with you, i've been wanting to ask you out for some time now. You're beautiful, and smart, and a lot braver than I could ever be, but I was just too shy to say anything until I finally did ask you out."

Here, he let out a small chuckle, and looked over at her before he continued. "I know..Ridiculous, right? Well, I tried my hardest to impress you, wearing the only good suit I own, and even begged the other LEP officers to loan me enough money to take you to that restaurant tonight. I wanted so hard for you to think of me as more than an officer, but it's obvious that you have something, or someone, on your mind other than me..."

Here, he came to a stop in front of Holly's house, waiting for her reaction, but he got only silence in return. Holly could only look down at her hands folded in her lap, feeling ashamed of herself. Not only had he gone out of his way for this date, but clearly, he knew that something was wrong with her, when she had tried so hard to keep up her act.

"No, there isn't anything, or anyone" She said, but she knew that it wasn't the truth.

"Oh, really?, Trouble asked, leaning slowly closer to her over the seat. Then, he took a deep breath."If I, say, kissed you, then, I wouldn't end up regretting it?"

Holly knew it would be so easy to give him what he wanted. Just a few inches separated them now, and it certainly wouldn't take much to close the gap.

She closed her eyes, preparing herself, but then Holly suddenly felt the familiar phantom tingle on her lips, from the moment not too long ago where she had kissed Artemis Fowl, and she stopped in her tracks. She had been trying so hard to forget what she had felt then...to forget Artemis, the boy who so infuriated, but fascinated her...but when it came to actually doing something about it, she just couldn't go through with it. She opened her eyes again, and saw that Trouble was already starting to back away again, too, looking pained, but not surprised.

"I'm so sorry, Trouble." Holly said, her eyes starting to glass over from tears. "I am so grateful for what you've done for me, but I just can't".

"It's ok" Trouble replied, his voice even and resigned. Clearly, he was trying his best not to be upset. "Thank you for coming with me tonight, though. It means a lot to me."

At this, Holly was absolutely overcome with gratitude. She leaned over and gave him a light hug. "Thank you so much, for everything", she whispered in his ear, giving him a small smile before she stepped out of the car. She turned around for a moment to watch Trouble drive away, then headed up the stairs to her house. She went to her bedroom to change into some more comfortable clothes, when her LEP communicator fell out of her pocket. Suddenly, she remembered giving Artemis one just like this. She ran her fingers along its face, briefly playing with the idea of calling him and telling him everything, but once again, something stopped her.

_Maybe someday_, she said to herself, _but definitely not yet_..


End file.
